Insights into the Cave

‘We settled on ‘Urban Cave’ as the title for this album because it seemed to sum up where the music is at,’ says Angus Richardson, one half of the Australian sibling pair which founded BROTHER. ‘On the one hand there’s the tribal, primal element with the indigenous instruments as well as the fact that a lot of the tracks are first-takes, so it feels raw. But then there’s the other side which is slick and polished and sort of sophisticated in the way the songs are structured and the journey they take.’

And this journey is quite a trip. Sampled bagpipe hooks against a backdrop of distorted electronic drums in the Nashville-on-acid ‘Fragile; jungle sounds and scratching on ‘inside of me’; a haunting didg drone and tabla with crystal clear vocals start ‘Lonely with you’, then we ride a u-turn to take the song out with a thrashy finish; the live-show favorite, ‘Crazy’ is reinvented with turntables and a campfire-y acoustic sing along; then there’s ‘Funny’, with its low-end drum groove and laid-back rap; and the social-protest or love song – take your pick – of ‘In Your Name’, with its haunting cello and vocal refrain.

‘We didn’t set out with an overall theme to the album,’ explains Angus. ‘There were some older songs like ‘Lonely’ and ‘Fly Away’ which we were busting to reinvent and then there were the newer ones like ‘In your name’ and ‘Wear me down’ with lyrics which could be interpreted in lots of different ways, depending on your take on life. I think we’ve ended up with an album which conveys our signature positive attitude, but I guess there’s a bit more melancholy, a bit more of a dark underbelly. Don’t ask me why – we’ll leave that to the armchair therapists out there.’
 



 

funny
fragile
death of me
wear me down
river
fly away
inside of me
lonely with you